Sindh Inspector General of Police (IGP) Ghulam Haider Jamali has directed the Sindh police to sort out a security plan for Karachi on Eidul Fitr
He said that federal and provincial security and other law enforcement agencies should be taken into confidence while finalising the security plan. “Deployment of armed security personnel should be ensured in all mosques, imambargas, shopping centres and markets. Moreover, all entrance points of the city should also be guarded by police and Rangers,” he said.
Talking about coordination among law enforcement agencies, he emphasized that contacts should be maintained with central police office command and control to tighten the security rope against miscreants.
Meanwhile, The Sindh government has also approved a mega security plan for boosting Sindh Secretariat security having offices of several ministers, chief secretary and other secretaries of the Sindh bureaucracy.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a SGA&CD official told PPI that the plan was prepared by general administration department and was approved by Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah.
He said the beefed up security arrangements were made in the wake of operation Zarb-e-Azb being launched by Pakistan Army in North Waziristan and possible militants’ backlash in the province.
He said mega project which was approved during the meeting included watch-towers, raising walls around the secretariat, fitting barbed wires, placing concrete road blockers and jersey barriers around the outer walls.
He said the secretariat had metal detectors and scanners, however, they were not able to detect sophisticated explosive material. For this purpose, the general administration department had decided to purchase special scanners that could detect explosive material, he added.
He said fiber sheds were approved for visitors’ gallery in the secretariat while special cards having bar codes would be issued to the vehicles of government employees working in the secretariat.
These special cards would have vehicle registration number and name of owner which would help in stopping vehicles without cards in the secretariat, he said. The meeting has also approved hydraulic doors, also known as anti-terrorist gates at the entry and exit points of the secretariat.
A security official at Sindh secretariat told PPI that the security had been beefed up at the secretariat and even the gusts of ministers and secretaries were not allowed to enter their vehicles. Secretary SGA&CD (GA) Inamullah Dharejo confirmed that implementation of mega security proposal had initiated, however, he did not specify its details and time frame for its completion.